If the Central Coast has an artery, it’s the M1 Pacific Motorway, and it’s in trouble.
Each day, tens of thousands of commuters, freight carriers, emergency vehicles and tourists rely on this vital link between Sydney and the Central Coast, Newcastle and beyond.
It connects not only people but economies. And when it’s blocked, as it so often is, the entire regions north of Sydney suffer.
This week, as the ongoing inquiry into the M1 traffic chaos continues, the Central Coast Commuters Association has put forward a practical and timely suggestion: reintroducing two lanes each way on the Old Pacific Highway between Gosford and Hornsby.
The old former highway runs parallel to the M1 and, in earlier decades, provided a reliable alternate option during major hold-ups.
Though since much of the the M1 was widened to three lanes, the Old Pacific Highway was reduced to one lane each way and rebranded a scenic tourist drive.
That may have suited a quieter era, but we’re well beyond that now.
Association President Eddie Ellis rightly points out that restoring the dual-lane configuration would immediately double the capacity of the route. In the event of a major incident on the M1, a common occurrence, it could be used as a pressure-release valve for stalled traffic.
He also notes that the steep inclines around the Hawkesbury River and Mooney Mooney cause significant delays when trucks or slower vehicles struggle uphill.
Having two lanes would allow other traffic to safely overtake and keep flowing.
And the best part? The change would cost little. It’s a matter of line marking, not new asphalt, not major bridges, not months of construction.
Of course, this isn’t a replacement for long-term investment in better public transport, freight rail, and smarter motorway technology.
But it’s a short-term fix with immediate benefit. We’ve already seen the limits of bi-directional traffic control on the M1, when it works, it’s slow, and when it doesn’t, commuters are left stranded.
The Central Coast deserves more than just apologies and inquiries. It deserves action, and this suggestion is one that the Minns Government and Transport for NSW should take seriously.
We urge our state representatives to look again at the old highway with a new lens.
In a region growing as fast as ours, mobility is not a luxury. It’s a necessity.
David Abrahams – Managing Editor
Well said, in all regards. This is a very low-hanging-fruit project, and it will do an excellent job of tiding us over until we can make those other upgrades.
Looking forward to the eventual Outer Sydney Orbital (motorway and freight rail) connecting Gosford to Bradfield and Wollongong – that’ll be a game changer, and will do wonders to free up rail capacity on our current train line
I drive the old Pacific Highway twice a week from Kariong to Berowra. Before the motorway, there were a few crawler lanes, back in the day when vehicles of all shapes and sizes were smaller and lighter; certainly not 2 lanes in each direction (except for a small section of divided road at Mt White). These were removed after the construction of the M1 at various dates when vehicles became larger and heavier to make the winding road safer. There is certainly no room to reinstate these crawler lanes without significant civil engineering works. And then you have the bottle necks at the bridge crossing the M1 near Somersby, bridge over Mooney Mooney Creek, Mt White (under the M1) and the Hawkesbury River bridge, and over the main north railway line at Cowan. The only to improve the current situation is expeditious implementation of contraflows (minutes, not hours) and building a fit-for-purpose alternate motorway